Dragons
by Who Shot AR
Summary: The two eldest of George Laurence's boys hear their Papa talking one night of dragons. Set during Victory of Eagles, when Laurence, et al., set down at Wollaton Hall for the night.


I am terribly enamoured of next-gen fic in general, and the opportunity for cute with Laurence's niece and nephews strikes me as pretty much boundless. Now that I've finally nearly finished the series as written so far (a hundred pages left!), I can begin to properly write about them; this particular incarnation of them was imagined several books ago with the help of pitseleh.

* * *

Dragons

"No, Perry, it is time for bed," Nurse said patiently, her thin, severe face made slightly softer by the kind expression in her eyes. "For the _both_ of you, Geordie," she added, when Perry's older brother opened his mouth, presumably to claim the right of staying up later as befit the eldest in the family. Geordie was the very best brother in all the world (Perry thought), but he had a terrible tendency to betray their fraternal bond when he might benefit. "Ned and Clarissa went to bed like good little children; you shouldn't like to be shown up by them by misbehaving."

"Clarissa's only a baby," Geordie muttered darkly. "So is Ned. They don't know to _want_ to stay up."

"Couldn't we play for a _few_ more minutes?" Perry pleaded, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. "We'll be very good--we won't wake Clarissa--"

"Absolutely not. To _bed_, my boys." It was the voice that brokered no argument, and both Geordie and Perry knew better than to press further. They allowed Nurse to lead them to bed and tuck them in, with the promise that their mother would be in to kiss each of them soon.

Mama came in a few minutes later and brushed a kiss on first Geordie's forehead, then Perry's, and smoothed each boy's flaxen hair in turn. She smelled of lavender. With a whispered good night, she swept away to check on the babies, and moved towards the door to the nursery.

Papa met her at the door, Perry saw through squinted eyes. (He was _supposed_ to be sleeping, of course, so propriety decreed he must not sit up in bed; surely if his eyes were almost shut, he could not be faulted, however.) Nurse excused herself silently and went out the door, and Mama gestured Papa into the room.

"This isn't a discussion for children's ears," he said in a low voice. Mama smiled, her face barely discernable in the low light from the fireplace, and set a hand on his arm.

"They fall to sleep so quickly lately that we needn't worry about their listening." There was a long pause, before Mama continued, "What is it, George?"

Most of what Papa said in return was too quiet for Perry to hear. It was quite frustrating to lie there and catch one word in three; as a man with five years to his name, he felt that he ought be made aware of important occurrences in the household. He did not wish to be overly involved in the care of Grandfather, who was very thin and very ill and (Perry thought) very frightening in his thinness and illness, but otherwise, he wished to be kept informed.

Alas, Papa and Mama did not care to speak loudly enough that he might appreciate the entirety of their conversation, but Perry did overhear a few of the most necessary bits (he thought). Something was going to do something, that much was clear, for he heard Papa say the word _will_ in a strange, almost strangulated, tone once or twice. And Mama repeated the most important word after Papa said it too quietly to hear and nodded towards the nursery window.

"Dragons, George?" she asked, sounding aghast.

"Hush, Elizabeth," and Perry shut his eyes tight when Papa glanced in his and Geordie's direction. "We had best discuss this elsewhere, as I thought."

When the nursery door had shut softly behind them, but Nurse had not yet reappeared, Perry sat up slowly in his bed. Geordie had done the same and was looking at him. The silent question on both their faces was written: _Did you hear, just now--?_

As one, they scrabbled out of bed as quietly as they might, and ran across the carpet (which thankfully muffled their fleet steps) to the window. The heavy drapes ensconced them, blocking the firelight and hiding them entirely (Perry thought) from view from the rest of the room. Nurse need not realize they had gotten out of bed at all, should she return before they had climbed back in.

They each pressed their faces to the glass of the window, peering into the darkness of Wollaton Hall's grounds. Though the sun had set, there were that night fires enough to see great, hulking dark shapes among shadows of people.

"Dragons," Perry breathed.

"They're _huge_," Geordie murmured in reply. "Do you think there's one as big as Wollaton?"

He had no idea, nor how many they were, nor what they looked like beyond _big_, but Perry was quite certain they were the most beautiful creatures he had yet seen.

When Nurse returned, a few minutes later, she found the boys there still, two shapes behind the curtains, staring in wordless wonder out at the winter's night.


End file.
